Last week, the ever-so-eloquent Rush Limbaugh took to his radio show to lambast Ohio State University’s new sexual consent policy. The policy calls for students to express consent to their partner before engaging in and during sex.

In response to the policy, Limbaugh asked his male listeners, “How many of you guys, in your own experience with women, have learned that ‘no’ means ‘yes’ if you know how to spot it?” He then continued, “Agreeing on the ‘why’ takes all the romance out of everything. Seduction used to be an art, now of course it’s brutish and it’s predatory and it’s bad.” For the record, seduction can still be considered an art. It is sexual assault that is brutish, predatory and bad.

Rape is and has been an epidemic on college campuses nationwide. Recent studies have shown that one in five women is sexually assaulted in college. Universities, both public and private, have recently come under a great deal of scrutiny for mishandling sexual abuse cases, prompting a call for immediate change. This change is largely contingent on students understanding the parameters of sexual consent.

Sexual consent is what distinguishes rape from wanted, legal sex. A clear knowledge of sexual consent and how to execute consent is key for putting an end to the epidemic on the university level and beyond. In fact, a three-tier plan to remedy on-campus sexual assault published by the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network emphasizes that an education of sexual consent is key.

Despite its overwhelming importance, however, a stigma remains around sexual consent, demonstrated by Limbaugh’s repulsive comments. This stigma is generated by the societal perception of sexual consent. Society is very hypersexualized, and sex is undeniably a prominent element in media including television, movies, magazines and advertisements. Unfortunately, media representations of sex do not always promote consent, leading consumers to believe that consent is not a necessary part of sexual intimacy.

In television and movie sex scenes, many characters are too enthralled in passion to confirm consent. Magazine articles tend to focus on how to attract sex partners more than they discuss the importance of talking to said partners about safe and legal sex. Advertisements objectify women’s bodies, making them seem like a piece of meat who do not need to be asked whether they want to proceed to the next step of intimacy.

When sexual consent is actually depicted, it is seen as heroic rather than normal. If a man in a television show does not have sex with a girl because she is too drunk to consent, he is seen as a hero. It is positive that this situation is praised, but only having sex after consent should not be seen as just a heroic quality. It should be shown as a normal and necessary part of any sexual encounter.

This lack of consent in media produces an ambiguity regarding consent that allows for the continuation of rape — one in 12 college-age men has admitted to fulfilling the definition of rape, even though they do not consider themselves rapists. As a culture, we need to do a better job dispelling the media’s skewed image of consent. If young men and women have a clearer conception of consent, they will be better equipped to prevent rape.

Sexual consent should not be perceived as ambiguous or unsexy. It is imperative that society and the media change their perception of sexual consent to become a sexual norm, not just a heroic quality. If we continue to treat consent as an anomaly in sex, the stigma around sexual assaults will not improve. It needs to be understood that a condom alone does not make sex safe.